# I say "Germany." What's the first thing you think of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507 "2012-01-24T16:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/1 "2012-01-24T16:24:57Z")
Inspired by [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoLIU2NI66w) bit of stand-up by Dylan Moran. What’s the very first thing that springs to mind when you think of Germany? Or has you-know-who coloured your first impressions of it? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/2 "2012-01-24T16:28:13Z")
The first thing that springs to mind when you say, “Germany,” to me is: Germany. Maybe I’m too much of a literalist. ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/3 "2012-01-24T16:31:02Z")
I think of you know who. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/4 "2012-01-24T16:31:49Z")
Because of the recent threads about the geographical extent of certain entities, my first thought was that this was going to be a poll about “Do you consider so and so region to be in ‘Germany’?”. I had to actively think about what else could have come to mind…for about half a second. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/5 "2012-01-24T16:33:13Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > The first thing that springs to mind when you say, “Germany,” to me is: Germany. > > Maybe I’m too much of a literalist. Ha, ok, the _second_ thing then besides the word itself. Words conjure images. In my case since I’ve been to Germany I think of [the Black Forest](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/BadenWurttemberg_Schiltach1_tango7174.jpg) and the lovely little villages nestled in it, incredibly beautiful place. Then, er, the thing with the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/6 "2012-01-24T16:34:07Z")
Pretzels and beer. Joe ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/7 "2012-01-24T16:35:04Z")
I would probably visualize Germany as it appears on a map or Europe. But, absent other contexts, Nazis would probably come to mind soon after (and then maybe\* Fawlty Towers\*). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/8 "2012-01-24T16:35:51Z")
Kaiser Wilhelm II Of course, I’m in the middle of the World War One unit right now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/9 "2012-01-24T16:36:54Z")
I think of M5 helmets. How should I vote? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/10 "2012-01-24T16:37:50Z")
I think of sauerkraut, beer, Bach, Handel, the Rhine, Wagner, Angela Merkel, the exchange student we had in high school, the Brandenburg Gate, etc. Hitler’s pretty far down the list. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/11 "2012-01-24T16:38:41Z")
I think of a good couple hundred or so years of some of the most amazing and inspiring music that has ever been written on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/12 "2012-01-24T16:39:00Z")
Jokes aside, it’s not that hearing “Germany” doesn’t plan a seed of “that’s where Hitler is from” but that’s not where I go right off the bat. More likely, I personalize it. I had a close friend from Germany when I was in college; he usually springs to mind at the mention of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/13 "2012-01-24T16:43:45Z")
Beer. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/14 "2012-01-24T16:44:08Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I would probably visualize Germany as it appears on a map or Europe. > > But, absent other contexts, Nazis would probably come to mind soon after (and then maybe\* Fawlty Towers\*). [Obligatory link. Don’t mention the war!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0). “You started it.” “We did not start it!” “Yes you did, you invaded Poland!” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/15 "2012-01-24T16:53:26Z")
The nicest beer I’ve ever tasted. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/16 "2012-01-24T16:54:48Z")
My brother and his wife are currently living in Germany. He keeps trying to talk me into visiting, but I have no interest in Europe. All that aside, Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/17 "2012-01-24T16:55:08Z")
Lived in Berlin 14 years, so lots of things come to mind when mentioning Germany, but Nazi is not one of them. Germany has stringent laws against anything to do with the Nazi Party. There are a few [pockets of Neo-Nazis all over the world](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazism), including the US and even Israel, but in Germany they are arrested. Besides, after 70+ years, I think it is safe to say most who had anything to do with the party are long since dead. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/18 "2012-01-24T16:58:17Z")
brats soaked in beer on a bun covered in chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/19 "2012-01-24T17:02:51Z")
A guy in lederhosen with a beer in one hand and a sausage in the other. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507/20 "2012-01-24T17:12:36Z")
At the moment I think, ‘single-handedly saving Europe from financial meltdown’. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-germany-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/610507.md?page=2)